Self-paced reading study "Korat"

The aim of the study is to partially replicate the results from a previous eye-tracking study in a different paradigm, as well as control for the different syntax underlying the factor  conjunction type (um...zu and weil). The latter has an overt subject and object, whereas the former has a silent PRO subject. The overarching goal was to test whether the copula's situational argument is undespecified (Underspecification Account) or whether it is specified to a stative interpretation (State Account). In some contexts, e.g. in combination with particular adjectives, the copula can have an agentive interpretation.

The study had a self-paced reading paradigm with a moving window presentation. 40% of the sentences were followed by a comprehension question.  The study had a 2 × 2 design. 60 items were combined with 60 control sentences, 200 fillers with a standard syntax and 46 fillers with the conjunction in anteposition. The sentences were distributed over 4 randomised lists via the Latin square design. The experiment was preceeded by 9 exercise trials. There were at least two fillers between any two items. The experimental session included a break in the middle of the experiment. The first 3 sentences at the start of the experiment and after the break were fillers. The item and control sentences were divided in 6 or 7 IAs, depending on their length; the filler sentences had 6-8 segments.

The participants were seated in a quiet lab in front of a computer screen and used the keyboard  to navigate in the experiment. The experiment was programmed in E-Prime 3.